5 Horrifying Facts About Ed Gein’s Murders That Still Haunt Plainfield, Wisconsin

Decades after his arrest, the name Edward Theodore Gein—the "Butcher of Plainfield"—remains synonymous with the most grotesque crimes in American history, and his story has seen a recent resurgence of interest in late 2025 due to new true-crime media analyses. The true horror of the Ed Gein murders lies not just in the killings of his two confirmed victims, but in the disturbing collection of human remains and artifacts found inside his isolated Plainfield, Wisconsin, farmhouse in November 1957. This case shattered the idyllic facade of small-town America and continues to be the definitive source of inspiration for some of the greatest horror films ever made.

The crimes of Ed Gein are a chilling study in psychological trauma, isolation, and necrophilia, rooted deeply in his twisted relationship with his mother, Augusta Gein. While he was only convicted of one murder, the sheer scope of his grave robbing and the macabre use of human body parts solidified his legacy as the "Plainfield Ghoul," a figure whose actions are still being analyzed by criminologists and historians today.

Edward Theodore Gein: Complete Biographical Profile

The life of Ed Gein was one of extreme isolation and psychological damage, primarily dictated by the iron will of his deeply religious and fanatically moralistic mother.

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• Full Name: Edward Theodore Gein
• Born: August 27, 1906, in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
• Died: July 26, 1984 (aged 77) at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin.
• Parents: George Philip Gein (abusive alcoholic father) and Augusta Wilhelmine Gein (domineering, puritanical mother).
• Sibling: Henry George Gein (died in 1944 under suspicious circumstances).
• Residence: A secluded, 155-acre farmhouse in Plainfield, Wisconsin.
• Known Crimes: Two confirmed murders, numerous acts of grave robbing (estimated at 9-10 corpses), and desecration of human remains.
• Victims: Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden.
• Nicknames: The Plainfield Ghoul, The Butcher of Plainfield, The Mad Ghoul.
• Legal Status: Found guilty of Bernice Worden’s murder but later declared legally insane. Institutionalized for the remainder of his life.

The Macabre Timeline: From Grave Robbing to Murder

Ed Gein's descent into depravity was a gradual process that began after the death of his mother, Augusta Gein, in 1945. She was the last person in his immediate family to die, leaving him completely alone in the farmhouse that would later become a house of horrors.

The Obsession and the Grave Robbing Spree

Following Augusta’s death, Gein became obsessed with the idea of creating a "woman suit" so he could embody his mother. Unable to resurrect her, he turned to the nearby Plainfield cemetery. Beginning around 1947, Gein admitted to making approximately 40 nocturnal visits to three local cemeteries to exhume recently buried female corpses.

He selected middle-aged women he believed resembled his late mother. His primary goal was to acquire body parts for his macabre experiments and creations. He often returned the bodies to the graves after removing the parts he needed, a detail that initially confused investigators.

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The Confirmed Victims: Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden

Gein's crimes escalated from grave robbing to murder in 1954 and 1957. The two confirmed victims were local women in Plainfield.

• Mary Hogan (Disappeared 1954): Hogan was a 51-year-old tavern owner in Pine Grove, a few miles from Plainfield. She disappeared in December 1954. Gein later confessed to shooting her with a rifle and bringing her body back to his farmhouse. Her head was one of the items discovered by police.
• Bernice Worden (Disappeared 1957): Worden was a 58-year-old hardware store owner in Plainfield. She disappeared on November 16, 1957. Her son, Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden, was the one who reported her missing and suspected Gein, who was the last person to be seen at the store.

The investigation into Bernice Worden's disappearance led local Sheriff Arthur Schley and other authorities to Gein's farmhouse, where the full extent of his horrifying activities was finally revealed.

The Farmhouse of Horrors: The Gruesome Artifacts Found

What investigators found inside Gein's Plainfield farmhouse was a collection of items so shocking it defied belief, instantly cementing his place in the darkest corners of true crime history. The items were not trophies in the traditional sense, but rather household objects and clothing crafted from human remains, mostly sourced from the cemetery.

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The discovery of Bernice Worden’s decapitated body—hanging upside down in a shed and "dressed out" like a deer—was only the beginning. The subsequent search of the premises uncovered a chilling inventory of artifacts, demonstrating Gein’s fixation on the female form and his attempt to create a twisted substitute family.

List of Macabre Discoveries (Entities):

The police inventory included:

• Bowls made from human skulls.
• Chairs upholstered with human skin.
• A corset and leggings crafted from a woman’s torso and leg skin.
• A "face mask" made from a peeled-off human face.
• A lampshade made from human skin.
• A belt made from human nipples.
• A shoebox filled with female genitalia.
• Mary Hogan’s head, found in a sack.

Gein confessed that he would often wear the "skin suit" and masks, dancing around the house by the light of his human-skin lampshade. The farmhouse itself, a symbol of this unspeakable horror, was later destroyed by a mysterious fire in 1958, just before it was scheduled to be auctioned off, preventing it from becoming a morbid tourist attraction.

The Lasting Cultural Impact and The Trial

The sensational nature of the Ed Gein case, which became national news, profoundly impacted American culture and the perception of the serial killer archetype. The term "serial killer" had not yet been widely popularized, but Gein’s actions provided a terrifying template for the isolated, sexually-repressed monster.

The Real-Life Inspiration for Horror

Gein's crimes served as the direct inspiration for three of the most iconic and successful horror franchises in cinema history, ensuring his story would be retold for generations. These connections are crucial LSI keywords that drive ongoing interest:

• Norman Bates in Psycho (1960): The character's deeply Oedipal attachment to his deceased mother and his isolated residence were directly modeled after Gein and the Plainfield farmhouse.
• Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): The use of human skin masks and the gruesome furniture found in the house of horrors were drawn directly from the police inventory of Gein’s farmhouse.
• Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs (1991): The killer's desire to create a "woman suit" from his victims’ skin is a direct fictionalization of Gein's confessed motive.

The Legal Outcome and Institutionalization

Gein was initially deemed unfit to stand trial. He was committed to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. In 1968, he was finally tried for the murder of Bernice Worden. Circuit Judge Robert H. Gollmar oversaw the proceedings. Gein was found guilty of first-degree murder, but due to his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, he was committed to the Mendota State Hospital (later Mendota Mental Health Institute).

Edward Gein spent the final 16 years of his life institutionalized, dying of respiratory failure in 1984. He is buried in the Plainfield Cemetery alongside his family—the very cemetery he once desecrated. The Ed Gein murders remain a dark, cautionary tale about the depths of human depravity and the fragility of the human mind.